Also updated: the Google
Maps page with all the venues,
dates, and times for the training camp and sprint finals. You can
create customized directions very easily in advance, or do it from
your phone "on the fly."

What is it?

Simply the best week of North American
orienteering events ever... held in November. And we're aiming to
offer one of the best weeks ever, but we'll defer judgment until
we've put on the show. It features BAOC's O in the Oaks '09
A-meet at Pacheco State Park and the unofficial North
American Sprint Series finals in
San Francisco, presented by terraloco and Get Lost!!.
The amount of orienteering is comparable to the Rocky Mountain 1000
day. We've put a decidedly California spin on it: the Golden Gate
Getaway.

November? Yes, November. Northern
California is beautiful in early November! It usually doesn't
start raining until later in December, daytime highs are in the low
60's, and San Francisco itself is warmer than you'd usually find it
in July or August with all that fog. And without the fog, you can see
the majestic beauty of San Francisco and the Golden Gate from Pt.
Bonita with crystalline clarity.

Not only is the timing of this week rather
unusual, but so is the overall format of the week. Unusually
enticing, we're hoping. It begins with classic orienteering in a
classic central coast venue: Pacheco State Park, with its gently
rolling hills and runnable oak forests and meadows. The getaway
culminates on the following weekend with the sprint finals, a series
of 5 sprint courses at stunning Pt. Bonita on the Marin coast, San
Francisco State University, and the mixed woods and park terrain of
McLaren Park. In between is all the fun and training of a 1000 day,
with a mix of classic and urban training venues designed to provide
aesthetic enjoyment as well as damn good training. Social
opportunities will be provided throughout, and feel free to pick and
choose what you want to do so that you can explore and have some fun
in the Bay Area.

The Pie in the Sky

We want to showcase orienteering to the world,
right here in one of the hotspot cities of the planet. An all-points
bulletin will be delivered to local media. We're planning to document
the experience with a DVD. The venues are scenic and large sections
of the courses will offer spectator access. Hopefully, we'll draw
some numbers to show what an interesting spectacle an orienteering
competition can be. Our goal is to provide a celebration of the sport
for all to enjoy: competitors, recreational participants, juniors,
spectators, friends, the media, and the general public. "Check out
how exciting this is!" And the accessible sprint format will serve
the purpose nicely.

What's the latest?

The blog, 3g.terraloco.com,
will be updated with all the latest photos, map samples, meandering
thoughts, and concrete developments of this unprecedented week. Feel
free to tune in from time to time. The essential information will be
updated here; read the blog if you want some more in-depth thoughts
about the events.

What's the
schedule?

Go to the baoc.orgschedule
page or the terraloco.comschedule
page to get more information about any
of the events - clickable links have program information, details,
and directions.

The A-Meet
Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8: BAOC O in the Oaks
'09 A-meet, Pacheco State Park - classic orienteering courses
in the wonderful, oaky hills of the central coast.

The Training FunMonday, November 9: Morning Golden Gate Goat at Golden Gate
Park, followed by Stanfordsprints in the
afternoon by Eric Bone / MerGeo.
Tuesday, November 10: Magnus Johansson presents morning intervals
in Old Oakland and a chasing sprint by Lake Merritt;
in the PM, train in the rocky woods of Morgan
Territory.Wednesday, November 11: Merritt College mass-start
motala in the morning, and afternoon sprints at
U.C. Berkeley by Ben Legg.
Thursday, November 12: Dennis Wilkinson's breakfast run in
Palo Alto starting from Hobee's, and taste our best redwood
terrain later at the Joaquin Millersprints by Jonas
Kjall.
Friday, November 13: Optional San Francisco street
course around Buena Vista Park and Twin Peaks - self service - no
event crew - get map ahead of time.

for the underlinedvenues, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and Joaquin Miller, we are
including these in the sprint series tallies.

The Sprint Series FinalsFriday, November 13: The afternoon prologue at Point
Bonita, Marin headlands, overlooking the ocean, the bay, the
Golden Gate, and San Francisco. Stunning.
Saturday, November 14: Two morning sprints in the detailed
campus terrain of San Francisco State University. Best
arena ever! You get to watch.
Saturday, November 14: An afternoon sprint in the mixed woods
and park terrain of McLaren Park. We're staging it for a
nice sunset across the cityscape.
Sunday, November 15: The finale sprint at McLaren Park. And
the awards ceremony.

Advance
registration for the O in the Oaks A-meet at Pacheco State Park is
now closed. For this event and the training camp you will now have to
register and pay at the events.

You may still
register online for the North American Sprint Finals - competitive or
recreational. Link: Sprint
finals registration.

See
the prices for all events at the A-meet
web page. Recreational registration for
the sprint finals is cheaper: It's $10 per venue per day for
adults, $3 for students and juniors. For both venues on Saturday
there's a package deal of $15 for adults, $5 for juniors or
students. Training events are $5 each, $3 for juniors and
students. Here is the registration
form and waiver for sprint finals and
training events.

See who's coming.
I will post here the names of anybody who signs up for the sprint
finals in the competitive division, since they won't go in the
official Golden Gate Getaway registration system, which has closed.
As of 11/6, these are: Clare Durand (long), Dean Sturtevant
(short.)

BAOC Juniors who are entering this as a
COOL event should not register as recreational.
Your season pass covers your entry fees. M/F 10/12 classes
should select the White course. Older juniors should select the Long
course.

If you have any questions, contact Rex by email
at rex@terraloco.com
or phone at 5 1 0 . 6 8 1 . 6 1 8 1.

How will the sprint
finals work?

We will have 3 courses at each of the sprint
finals events - white, short, and standard sprint. The white,
following the USOF course guidelines, will be for juniors in the 10
and 12 year classes, length about 2.0 km. Older juniors can register
for the standard sprint. Each standard sprint course will be 2.5 km
to 3.0 km in length, with the exception of the two courses at San
Francisco State, which will total about 2.5 km to 3.0 km. The short
versions will provide the same technical challenge with reduced
length and physicality. Expect interesting courses with lots of quick
decision making, obstacles, detailed map reading, changes of
direction, and butterfly loops.

You may do the courses recreationally, with
individual starts and a separate results listing. Enjoy your course
at your own pace, and this will allow you the opportunity to watch
the finals competition. We're setting up an arena at each staging
site.

The competition is open to anybody as well.
After the solo prologue at Pt. Bonita on Friday, which helps with
seeding and is not mandatory, the competitive class events will have
"mini mass starts" on Saturday. Groups of 4 will run together, and
your placement in the group is used to determine how you advance in
the tournament. You'll get a different group in each
round.

Competition details are being developed, and
are similar in nature to the sprint finals of recent years past -
consult the Sprint
Series website for the history. The
most current available information is contained in this
discussion
thread on Attackpoint; it won't be
radically different from what you see there.

And the awards are being designed and
created by Benjamin
Chan. A Golden Gate Getaway
commemorative poster print featuring a beautiful visual iconographic
design will be made available for sale to anybody; the top 3 in each
division will receive a complimentary print. These will be nice - Ben
is a pro artist. And first place in each division will get a print
made on sturdy block of wood. It'll look real good. Stay tuned for a
visual preview of the design.

Where do I stay? How do
I get around?

We have negotiated a good rate with the
Hotel
Whitcomb, which has nice rooms and sits
in a stately, historic building literally on top of the Civic Center
BART subway station on Market St. in downtown San Francisco. It is
very conveniently located for attending the events. The group deal is
$65 per room per night for 1 or 2 people, $80 for 3 people, and $95
for 4 people, plus taxes. Youth 17 and under are not charged with
their family, but rollover beds are an extra $20 per night.
Make reservations with Maria Bernard, the sales manager, rather
than the front desk. When corresponding with Maria, mention the
Golden Gate Getaway or Rex Winterbottom / terraloco to get the deal.
Her email is Sales@HotelWhitcomb.com,
and she may be reached by phone at 4 1 5 . 4 8 7 . 4 4 6 2. Nov. 4 is
the cutoff date for this deal.

If you're looking for very inexpensive
accommodations, San Francisco has quite a few hostels where you can
book your spot for about $20 a night, you can look them up at
Hostelworld.
Make sure to expand the search to include all housing options, they
also include small hotels, and read carefully the details about
location (and proximity to transit) and also user ratings.

Once your return from Pacheco State Park, you
might not need your rental car - almost all the training sessions are
transit accessible. The ones that aren't, like Morgan Territory, will
have transit pickup spots and carpool spots, and we will coordinate
rides so everyone can get to those kinds of places.

Pt. Bonita is the only sprint finals site
without easy transit access, and parking is limited, so we're asking
everybody to carpool. Contact Rex and he will help coordinate
this.

What's the party
schedule? And what are some fun things to do?

Yes, there will be socializing! Participants
are invited to attend any or all of these functions. See the
quick reference
guide for the details... and call Rex
if needed to find the group.

Monday, November 9: Dinner in
downtown Palo Alto
Tuesday, November 10: Dinner at Zachary's
Pizza in San Ramon... incredible
Chicago-style pizza!
Wednesday, November 11: Dinner at La Val's Pizza in Berkeley,
where CHAOS is
hosting their "meeting" (they are hosting the U.C. Berkeley event
for us.)
Thursday, November 12: Dinner and... if you're up to it... a movie
at the Grand
Lake Theater - a palatial, art-deco
theater in Oakland
Saturday, November 14: Banquet in San Francisco at
Delancey
Street Restaurant.